Links: Box Score
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College men's lacrosse team traded blows with Hobart all afternoon Saturday at Duane Stadium, but the clock ran out on the Warriors, as Statesmen escaped with a 12-11 win.
Merrimack scored the game's first four goals to get the packed crowd on their feet, but Hobart worked its way back into the contest and eventually took a lead late in the first half that it would not relinquish.
Christian Thomas played an electric 60 minutes for the Warriors, as the graduate student co-captain led the game with five goals.
Nicholas Perez-Blanco and
Carlin Joyal turned in strong efforts from the defensive half of the field for the hosts. The former tied for the game-high with three caused turnovers and Joyal had a pair of caused turnovers and also had his second assist of the season when he linked with Thomas on a long bomb from behind the midfield line.
In the cage,
Henry Vogt gave Merrimack a chance to win it with 14 saves on 26 shots on goal. It's the third straight game that he's made more saves than allowed goals.
The Basics
Score: Hobart 12,
Merrimack 11
Records: Merrimack (5-5, 2-3 NEC) | Hobart (4-5, 2-3 NEC)
Rapid Recap
- Thomas broke the ice in the game three and a half minutes when Joyal connected with him from just a couple paces behind the midfield line to just in front of the cage. The graduate student stretched the lead two a couple minutes later when he fought his way to the front and dove for a finish.
- A minute and a half later, Mason Balch linked with Trace Hogan to make it 3-0, then Drew Hailey fought through traffic with 6:32 to play to take a 4-0 edge.
- Hobart started to get back in the game with some defensive stops and went on a 3-0 run of its own to close the first quarter at 4-3 on the scoreboard.
- In an extensively tightly played game, the teams opened the second quarter and were not able to find the back of the net for the first nine minutes of the stanza.
- With plenty of highlight reel goals in his historic Merrimack career, Thomas broke the drought. He beat a defender wide to goal line extended, then cut his way inside for a crease dive goal with 6:00 on the clock.
- The Statesmen answered again to the tune of a 4-0 run to cap the half and take their first lead of the day into the halftime break.
- A memorable second half, the closing 30 minutes had plenty of back-and-forth among the sides. Hobart pushed its lead to two at the 11:19 mark of the third quarter, but on a similar play to the game's first goal, Jack Barron tossed a bomb to Thomas from behind the midfield line to cut the deficit to one with 10:54 remaining.
- The visitors retook its two-goal lead with 8:44 to play, but Brian Bouwman took a Sean Black feed for a man-up goal two and a half minutes later to trim the margin back to one.
- A 2-0 run to close the third and open up the fourth from Hobart made it 10-7 with 14:34 remaining.
- The three-goal difference lasted just 35 seconds and it was a memorable goal at that. After some good passing around the perimeter, Black worked a ball goal line extended to the left for Kaden Brunson, who unloaded a sidewinder into the net for his first collegiate tally.
- Hobart fought back for a goal with 12:03 to play, then Mason Balch responded just over a minute later to put it at 11-9.
- Just a few moments after his first career goal, Brunson added his second point of the day when he took the ball from behind the goal and dished to Jack Rooney in front for a goal with 8:12 remaining to make it a one-goal game.
- The Statesmen needed just six seconds to respond with a goal off the face-off to retake the two-goal edge with 8:06 on the clock.
- Thomas' strong day pressed on a minute and a half later when he beat a defender to get to the front, then scored down low.
- Merrimack had chances to tie the game in the closing six minutes, but defense prevailed, as neither team was able to find the back of the net to end the game at 12-11.
Notes and Numbers
- Vogt topped the team with seven ground balls.
- Barron, Brian Russell and Joe Conley also registered caused turnovers.
- Thomas topped the team with 11 shots and eight on cage.
- Allyn French went 10-for-21 on face-offs on the afternoon.
- Shots: 52-42 Hobart (26-25 SOG Merrimack)
- Faceoffs: 15-10 Hobart // Ground Balls: 30-28 Merrimack
- Turnovers (CT): 18-17 Merrimack (9-8 Hobart) // Clears: Merrimack: 25-29 // Hobart: 24-27
- Extra-man opportunities: Merrimack: 1-3 // Hobart: 0-2
Up Next
The Warriors head to Staten Island, N.Y. Saturday for their final road game of the season against Wagner.
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